ATLANTA --- Dee Dee Kennibrew broke into the national record charts at age 15 when her first record with The Crystals became a hit in 1962, and she has been performing ever since. But in recent years she has been frustrated that upstarts have been posing as groups formed by her friends.
These impostors are costing them money, she said Thursday as she testified in favor of a bill that would make it illegal to impersonate a recording group.
"I sang with the Coasters, and I know that they have spent so much money going from court to court trying to catch these people," said Ms. Kennibrew, whose hits with The Crystals include Da Do Ron Ron and Then He Kissed Me .
Bands trademark their names to protect them from impostors, but that wasn't a common practice in the '50s and '60s, especially among black groups. Now, there are more than a dozen groups portraying themselves as the Drifters and the Coasters.
Often the bogus groups get more gigs than the genuine artists because they'll work cheaper, Ms. Kennibrew said.
Senate Bill 226, which won approval from the Senate Economic Development Committee, requires a group to have at least one original member who recorded its hits.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Dick Crosby, R-Tifton, is a retired judge who is familiar with the cost of suing the phonies.
"Part of the problem is many of these old timers don't have the resources to pursue all of these impostors," said Mr. Crosby.
The measure now goes to the Senate Rules Committee, which will decide when it will go to the full Senate for a vote on whether to pass it to the House.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010. All Rights Reserved.
AH HA! I told my wife when we were at that concert that I thought Elvis was white.
LOL...Now, there are more than a dozen groups portraying themselves as the Drifters and the Coasters....now this is some funny stuff...wonder haow many people paid to see the Drifters and saw..tyrone and compamy instead???...LOL
I hope this bill carries stiff penalties for the group and the booking agent that doesn't check them out. Promoting these false groups is fraud.
What if there are no original RECORDING members left? Lots of groups have longtime members that did not record the albums. If this is the case, goobye Drifters, Platters, Coasters, .... the list goes on. All the members of these groups now only "peformed" with the original band, not recorded. Heck, if the Platters orginal recoding members were alive, they would be, lets see, ummm about 108 years old?
I guess this law would spell doom for the Haydn String Quartet.
Is it just me, or does anybody else think that our legislators should have more important business to attend to than this nonsense?
LOL...little lamb...exactly !!!!!